Searching
by IceFireAlchemist
Summary: CloudXOC Set after Advent Children, but before DOC A young woman with a dark history comes to Edge and takes a job at Seventh Heaven. Secrets begin to unravel...
1. Shinra's Bastard

The dank cave reeked with a salty, bitter tang

Disclaimer: All of the characters in this chapter belong to me, but Edge and Shinra belong to Square-Enix.

A/N: Well, I wrote this at about 1 am, so it's a little bit distorted by tiredness, which I am too tired to fix right now. Of course, a little bit later in the morning, I'll wake up tearing my hair out about it… but for now, here it is, please enjoy!

**Chapter 1:**

**Shinra's bastard**

The dank cave reeked with a salty, bitter tang. Its blackness seemed to extend beyond its mouth, to engulf the group of people that stood just beyond it. Thin tendrils of darkness leaked into the sunny air. It was a monster that slept with its mouth gaping open, invitingly, waiting for any prey to walk in.

One woman waited to do just that. She stood at the very mouth of the cave, looking as though she had just emerged from its depths.

Her long black hair was bound into a rope that swung down her back. It was a stark contrast to her skin, which was deathly pale in some places, and fiercely burnt in others. Her clothes must once have been black, but had faded to a ragged grey through long hours of travelling on foot, pounding worms into dirt. Occasionally, the grey was interrupted by a splash of crimson, and punctured by little dots.

The katana she had strapped to her side was in similar condition, and the crowd of people surrounding her gazed at in horrified fascination. The most frightening thing of all was her eyes, which roared back at the cave, identical pits of terror.

The woman cocked her head, a fleeting, birdlike movement, and swung to face a cowering woman nearby.

'My price is—'

'Wait, please,' the nervous woman whispered. 'I must know: are you the one they call Yuki?'

The pale woman sighed. 'Yes, of course I am… What, you thought I was in disguise or something?' She turned back to the cave entrance, shaking her head irritably. 'If I was in disguise, I would've killed you by now. Good thing I'm not, huh.'

Ignoring the gasp of fear from the crowd, Yuki's eyes flickered back to the cave entrance. 'You said it was a high-level fiend, right?'

'Y-yes,' a man said. 'It escaped from Shinra's labs.'

'Then my price is 10,000 Gil.' The man's face fell, but he agreed quietly. Silently, Yuki nodded to them all and wove her way into the darkness of the cave.

The smell was almost overpowering. It curled around Yuki as she walked in, burning her nose, an ever-present guide and shadow. Trying to ignore it, she reached her hands out to feel her way along the walls, knowing that her eyesight would be of no use. She found she could touch both sides of the cave easily, and that the roof was not far above her either. Well, at least there would only be one area she would need to explore.

Her footsteps echoed in the hollowness of the cave, sounding among gentle patters of water. Somewhere in this darkness, beautiful things must be forming.

As she walked, Yuki tilted her head forward, trying to hear any noise that might be coming from the fiend itself.

Then, all of a sudden, her hands and feet hit the air at the same time. The ground ripped itself out from under her, and quickly she tried to relax her body and spread herself out, knowing it would make the fall less painful. Without time to even scream, she plummeted down, into the waiting blackness.

When her feet hit the ground, she found herself in a chamber lit with odd light from huge, gleaming stones that ringed the chamber. Seemingly out of nowhere, the light poured out in fountains of colour, lighting the walls and ceiling in a splash of natural art. The noise from the water sounded louder than ever in Yuki's ears, and as she scrambled to her feet, she realised that the water was running inside the stones- swirling in whirlpools that rebounded the colours and lights, and reflected them into every corner of the chamber.

It was not all beautiful. The smell of rust and salt grew and was magnified in that room. It came from the figure sitting in the centre of it. Small and hunched, it played with a smaller stone, watching the light refract off it. Bones lay around it, and it giggled to itself as it swung to face Yuki.

She raised her eyebrows. 'Oh? I thought I was here to exterminate a fiend. You just look like a washed-up crazy man.' The figure laughed again and threw the stone at Yuki with deadly speed and accuracy. Without time to block it, she was forced to draw her katana. She sliced it in two, but the pieces did not stop. They cut into either side of her face, before rushing on to embed themselves in a wall.

Surprised, the woman touched her face gently, and pulled her hand away to peer at the blood that flowered there.

'You underestimated me!' The man sang the words in a falsetto voice, rolling his eyes in a mock expression. 'They all do, in the end!' His sweeping gesture included the bones that lay on the floor.

Yuki shrugged, feeling a little angry. She had thought the villagers overestimated the idiot. Obviously they had not. She held up the blade, and smiled humourlessly.

The sword gleamed in the lights, a captivating myriad of colours. Yuki had called it Smoke, after the fire she had scavenged it from years ago. The blade was hers now as much as it had ever been.

The man lunged at her, so she sidestepped quickly and turned Smoke in a sweeping motion designed to bite into his shoulder and through to his heart. He stopped it with a tiny, well-made dagger, and attacked back, darting towards her neck. She dodged by dropping down to the ground and stabbing Smoke at his heels, feeling the familiar rush of adrenaline as she saw the blood spatter on the ground. Instantly, he tried to bend down rather than stabbing at her back as she had thought he would and she reached high, arching Smoke until it bit into his neck.

As he lay on the ground, dying, she stood over him.

'You weren't any good. Whatever tests they performed on you had greatly enhanced your speed and strength, but you never had training. Actually, it was a bit of a fluke on my behalf too. If you weren't so short, and so stupid as to bend down, I could never have gotten your neck like that.' Then she eased his suffering.

Grabbing a mobile phone, Yuki dialled a number.

'You did the job?' The voice on the other end was deep and heavy with authority.

'Done,' Yuki said. 'Where am I going next?'

'Apparently, there are a couple of assignments around Edge. Shinra executives are bugging me. Don't kill Rufus, just the others. The police are on high alert for you too, so stay around the back end of town. There are a couple of assassins out to get you, too.'

'Not surprised. Why I ever work for you, Lee, I do not know.'

'Someone will meet you in Edge.'

'OK. See you later.' She hung up.

The crowd of people drew back as Yuki emerged from the cave carrying the corpse of the man. She sighed, and held it out to them. It had been a clear day, and the sunset was a vibrant red as she collected her payment and smiled.

'Nice doing business with you.'

Then she left, to walk the long miles of the road to Edge.

Thank you for reading! Please rate and review, it's just an opening chapter, so it is quite boring right now, but it gets better, I… promise (well, hope.)


	2. Nightmares and Memories

The tall and forbidding building loomed over the little girl as she gazed up at it

Disclaimer: All characters and places belong to Square-Enix, except for one, which is my own character.

A/N: This is unedited, so please forgive any bad writing habits of mine such as repeating the same word in a sentence, putting random commas everywhere, and so on.

...

**Chapter 2:**

**Nightmares and Memories**

_The tall and forbidding building loomed over the little girl as she gazed up at it. Just a little while ago, it had instilled a fear in her that all children living in Midgar had possessed: a fear of Shinra's power, and of its inhumanity. But now, that fear was gone. Since the capture of her parents, she had no fear, because she no longer had anything to lose. Or so she thought._

_Methodically, she scanned the building to find a crack in security that might allow her to slip through. It was a freezing winter's day, and she knew that her old and worn clothes could cause suspicion. She had no coat, no hat. Worse than that, it was beginning to snow. If she did not find a way in soon, she would either be caught by a blizzard or a guard._

_Then, she saw her opportunity. A crowd of workers hurried towards the building, trying to escape the cold. Even though stern guards ringed the premises, she had to hope that they would not see her through so many people. _

_Slipping into the crowd, she was relieved to find that many of them had robotic companions- some shaped like cats, some like children. They watched her with bright eyes, but did not question her as she walked normally among them._

_The doors opened, and she was inside. Instantly, the workers veered off in all directions. Knowing that the most important things were on the top floors, she walked with a scientist towards a lift. He swiped a card, and as the lift doors slid open, she smiled and walked in. The scientist smiled too, but it was a nasty smile, and somehow smug as well. The girl ignored her pang of unease, and walked out with the scientist to a laboratory._

_Then, she recoiled in horror. The lab was filled with disgusting creatures, manifesting in green, bubbling liquid. Some of them even looked like humans. Realising that the professor was still watching her, she tried to smile. _

'_I think I may have the wrong floor. I'll just try again.' The scientist smiled impossibly wide, and laughed with a voice like a drill. _

_Deep in her panic, the girl swung around as the lift opened again, revealing a man with strange, red eyes in a bodyguard's uniform, and a woman with thick, light brown hair, dressed as a scientist. Ignoring them, she tried to run towards the open lift, only to find that the man had caught her with a puzzled look on his face. She stared, pleadingly, into his eyes, and he must have seen her fear, because he released her. _

_By then, it was too late. The lift doors swung shut as she slammed into them, and slowly she turned around, plastering the smile back on her face, desperate to get out of the cursed place. The scientist was laughing harder than ever, now with a needle in his hand._

'_Hold her, Vincent!' He commanded. The bodyguard gripped her reluctantly but firmly by the arm as she tried to run, and she struggled uselessly._

'_Hojo… do you really have to do this?' He asked quietly as sobs began to rack the girl's body. _

'_Of course!' the scientist replied. 'After all, her parents responded so well to my formula!' He gestured to the human-like monsters that lay still within the tank. The girl looked at them again and saw, with consuming horror, her mother's bright green eyes, slowly blinking as they examined her. In the next tank, her father's long black hair, tied up in his familiar knot, waved gently in the water. _

Yuki opened her eyes and stared up at the cracked, pitted ceiling of her apartment in Edge. Trying to shake the horror out of her mind and get back to a semblance of reality, she swung out of bed and turned on the shower. Waiting for the warm water to come, she looked at herself in the mirror.

She did not have the same eyes as her mother, but she did have her father's hair, long and black. Lifting up the sleeve of the huge shirt she slept in, she could still see the long scar Hojo had left as he sliced the needle down her arm. He could have just given her the anaesthetic the normal way and injected it straight into her arm, but he always did like giving her pain.

After that needle, she had woken to find herself in one of those tanks. For twenty years, she had been imprisoned, ten years old forever, until Lee and his warriors managed to smash the tank that held her. Eventually, they began to believe that the ten-year old was, partially, still human. She had worked for them- stealing or killing Shinra dogs- ever since. It had not been much fun since Shinra had crumbled, so they worked on the Turks instead, as well as being hired to kill dangerous fiends.

There was still pain, though. The treatment she had been put through showed on her body- a dark, painful bruising that spread all over her back and crept over a shoulder. Occasionally it would weep blue-black blood, which she covered in bandages. Yuki knew that she was becoming weaker and weaker- dying slowly of this strange bruising. For now, she ignored the pain and got into the shower.

The shower began to slowly wash away Yuki's terror until she was normal again: expressionless, in control of her emotions.

'Been a while since I had that dream,' she muttered to herself, trying to objectify the nightmare. 'Prob'ly happened because I haven't visited their graves yet.' Quietly, she dressed and left the bare apartment, silent but for the click of the closing door.

Edge was just as she remembered it- broken, smoky and packed with people. She had arrived just yesterday, and already Lee was nagging her about her jobs. As usual, she would ignore him for a while until she felt that she wanted to get out of Edge; then she would do the job, and leave. Besides, the dead needed respect.

The graveyard, wrapped in its own regrets and tragedies, was an oddly peaceful part of Edge. Grass had grown around all the tombstones, each with its own personal touch, their messages a final goodbye from loved ones. Venturing into an old, shaded part of the cemetery, Yuki found her parent's graves, side by side under the destroyed building that rose above them, the sun peeping through its ravaged shell.

She knelt down and brushed aside the clinging moss until her parent's names were clearly revealed.

TSURU SAYAKI,

AGE UNKOWN

FEMALE

YEAR OF DEATH UNKNOWN

DISCOVERED IN A SHIN-RA LABORATORY

R.I.P

TSURU AKENO,

AGE UNKOWN

MALE

YEAR OF DEATH UNKOWN

DISCOVERED IN A SHIN-RA LABORATORY

R.I.P

Yuki shook her head as she gazed at their names. The graves were so impersonal, their messages written by somebody who had never even met her parents. Most likely they had found the names written on the experimental tank. Maybe their gender would still have been obvious.

Gently, Yuki began to dig at the dirt on her mother's grave, just before the bleak headstone. Ignoring the gathering clouds, she pushed the earth aside and found what she was looking for: a note, preserved in a wooden box. It was rough, and faded, but the words were still clear on the page. She had written it just after she was released from her own tank.

_Here lies my mother, a beautiful and wise woman who loved with all her heart. Next to her lies my father, a man of honesty and integrity. Both faced undeserved hardship, and I am grateful that they may rest at last in peace. _

Her hands had still been clumsy from movement, but the note was not tear-smudged. She had been past crying by then.

She reburied the note, and sat looking peacefully at the graves for a while. Then she slapped her head.

'Oh, I forgot to bring flowers!' she groaned. Then she grinned at the graves. 'Well, you don't really need them, anyway. I'm sure there's a lot where you are. But since I know you're disappointed, I'll bring you some next time. Do you even realise how much money flowers cost, anyway?'

'Who are you talking to?' A small voice asked. Yuki gasped, jumping to her feet in shock. Without even thinking, she realised she had drawn Smoke, and forced herself to sheath it again.

She turned to face a boy, around ten years old, who gazed at her from a pair of graves not far from her own. His reddish-brown hair floated around his head and he faced her with piercing blue eyes. She sensed his gravity and his innocence.

She had never been comfortable around children, especially the ones who had been born without the sorrow of Shinra hanging over their heads. At least this child was older, perhaps easier to talk to.

'My parents,' she explained. 'Who are you visiting?'

'My parents,' he said, with a small smile at the coincidence. Yuki knew that now was the time to say that she was sorry for their deaths, but she thought he had probably heard enough of it, and remained uncomfortably silent.

'They were killed two years ago,' he said, as if sensing her discomfort. 'It's okay now, though. I'm doing alright.'

'Do- do you miss them?'

He shrugged. 'I used to, but now I have lots of people that are like family, so it's not so bad. What about you?'

'When I was your age, I missed them like hell,' she said, forgetting she was speaking to a child. 'Now, though? I'm happy that they're resting. Their lives were so sad, they needed some rest, I think.'

He nodded thoughtfully. Yuki wondered whether he really was a child. He seemed so mature.

'What's your name?' she asked, breaking the peaceful silence.

'Denzel. What's yours?'

'I'm Yuki.' Then she noticed the flowers. 'Wow, white lilies. I'm impressed. How many weeks did you save up to buy those?' Denzel smiled, allowing a touch of pride to creep into his face. 'It didn't take long. I just did some work around the house, and the lady I'm staying with said we could get some. She's really nice.'

'Yeah, that's really generous of her. Anyway, I gotta go. I only just came to town, and I need to find a job.'

'Well, if you want a job, the bar I stay at is advertising for some help.' Denzel called after her. She turned back to him, and saw again the bright, intelligent eyes, the grave face that looked trustingly back at her.

'Can you give me directions? I'll go there now.'

...

Thanks for reading! Please review, no matter what you think, I'd like to hear any suggestions, thoughts, etc.


	3. Interviews

The bar was around ten minutes walk away from the solemn graveyard

Disclaimer: All of the characters and in this story are property of Square-Enix, save Yuki, who is mine.

A/N: This is unedited, so please forgive any bad writing habits of mine such as repeating the same word in a sentence, putting random commas everywhere, and so on. If any characters become ooc, I'm sorry. I think Tifa becomes ooc in this chapter, so I might edit it later on…

…

**Chapter 3**

**The Interview**

The bar was around ten minutes walk away from the solemn graveyard. Walking in the gathering dusk around her, Yuki kept her head down. Her eyes darted around the unnaturally quiet street, waiting for an ambush. A cold hand clenched around Smoke.

Denzel had stayed behind in the graveyard, telling her he needed to stay a little longer. She had agreed, but now she was beginning to wonder if she had taken a wrong turning. The streets were empty, and a cold chill clamped down on the silent, forbidding houses.

Then, she saw a light among darkness. Through the quiet, a cheery place stood. The lights were on and voices were clearly heard coming from inside the bar: Seventh Heaven. Welcoming smells of good food and beer drifted out to brush against Yuki's nose.

Pausing in the doorway, listening to her stomach moan, she realised she must have been in the graveyard all day, without food. Well, whether she wanted the job or not, she knew that she needed something to eat, at least.

The door swung open to reveal crowds of people, crammed in behind tables, talking animatedly. A sign on the counter said, "HELP WANTED", and Yuki could see why.

A single woman dashed out from behind the bar, frantically pouring beer, frying chips, putting burgers together. Her thin black hair whipped out behind her as she flew to the tables, her feet running as though she were ready for a fight. Yuki recognised the person Denzel had known as Tifa.

After a few attempts at politeness, Yuki gave up and elbowed her way determinedly through the crowds, wondering why she should even bother taking such a hard job. As Tifa dashed by, Yuki shot her arm out like a snake, grabbing her by the shoulder.

However, she was unprepared for what happened next. Tifa locked a hand around her wrist and turned, twisting Yuki's arm around her body and with a gasp Yuki felt herself, dreamlike, being thrown into a poor knot of people that stood in front of them. She sat up, wincing as somebody's beer poured down a sunburnt part of her face, then sprang to her feet in case Tifa planned to continue the fight.

Already, the speedy woman had vanished into the crowd once more, the only sign of her presence a flash of black and white.

Yuki waited, tired, hungry, cold and bruised, outside on the step of the bar. She watched as the patrons, people of all different types, slowly filtered out, some still swigging their last drink, or rubbing their stomachs and moaning about how full they were. She wanted to go home, but for starters, there was no food at home. Besides, she came here to get a job. If she had waited this long, then another hour or two would not hurt.

The lights dimmed. Eventually, the only footsteps that could be heard were that of Tifa's. Yuki had not seen Denzel come in, but she guessed that he must have already slipped in while she was not paying attention.

Rising, feeling a few aches from sitting on the step, Yuki saw that Tifa was about to switch the sign to 'closed'. She took the opportunity and knocked.

Slowly, the door opened. 'Oh.' Tifa said, sounding a little tired. 'It's you. The girl who grabbed me.'

'Yeah… sorry about that,' Yuki said. 'Look, I was wondering—'

'Come in,' Tifa said, her voice a little warmer. She turned, and Yuki followed.

Without so many people in the bar, Yuki was able to look around properly. A sign on the wall said 'Strife Delivery Service,' with the picture of a motorbike underneath. Another advocated the preservation of the Lifestream. One on the far side of the wall advertised a clothing designer- "Tetsuya Nomura capes". A jukebox stood on the far right. A few tables and chairs were scattered around, the main form of seating being the stools in front of the bar.

'It's a nice bar you have here.' Yuki said, glancing up at the fans on the ceiling.

'Well, I work hard.' Tifa sighed, shaking her head. 'It never seems to be enough, though.'

'I'm sorry,' Yuki murmured. 'I couldn't imagine that you wouldn't have enough money to keep it going—'

'No, it's not that,' Tifa said, still shaking her head. 'Never mind. Forget I said anything.'

'Oh… OK.' Yuki shifted uncomfortably. Tifa stared out the window for a minute in a heavy pause.

'So, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?' Tifa asked, breaking the silence.

'Oh, it's just that I'd heard you were looking for some help. Unfortunately, I don't have a résumé, but I can give you the name of several places I've worked in, if you like. The till's easy, I can cook reasonably well, and taking orders are no problem…' She trailed off, watching Tifa warily.

The woman was shaking her head. 'I'm sorry, but you don't even have a résumé. I can't hire you.'

Underneath the bar, Yuki's fist clenched. Her résumé had been lost ages ago, when she was fighting a fiend in the water. She knew even before she asked that she was not going to get the job. Tifa had taken one look at her ragged clothing, her burnt and blistered skin, her ropy unkempt plait, and made up her mind. It did not matter whether Yuki had a store full of working clothes at home, she had turned up like this and that was the end.

'I see. Sorry to bother you.' Yuki managed, a slightly scornful tone underlying the polite sentence.

The door creaked open, and somebody stepped in. Short black hair pushed back into a headband framed a cheerful face, with clever eyes. Despite the chilly weather, the girl wore a tiny pair of shorts and a shirt, with what was undoubtedly a giant shuriken strapped to her back. Yuki took one look at her hands and realised that she was looking at a born thief. She had never seen fingers so perfect for picking pockets.

Meanwhile, the thief was looking back at her with interest. She darted towards where Yuki was sitting, a large grin on her face.

'Hi, what's your name? I'm Yuffie Kirasagi, ninja extraordinaire!' She finished off this rather strange sentence with a finger that stabbed at Yuki's face erratically. Yuki began to wonder if she should start dodging.

'Um, I'm Yuki, but don't worry about me, I was just leaving,' she said, with a stab of regret. She didn't care much about Tifa, but she wanted to know Yuffie better.

Apparently, Yuffie thought the same thing. 'No, stay!' she cried, blocking the doorway with her arms. 'I've only just met you! Besides, you look like you have some powerful materia!' Yuki could not help but grin at her and tease a little. She looked down at Yuffie and whispered 'Yes. I can summon Shiva.'

Yuffie's eyes widened. 'Tell me more! Can you do Fire3?'

'Yep,' Yuki said, a little smugly. 'Can you do Ice3?'

'Yes!' Yuffie blurted excitedly. 'Ah! But can you do Bolt3?'

'Yeah…but I can't do Quake3.' Yuki admitted sadly.

'Me neither!' They grinned at each other.

'Esuna is ok for white magic, but I never thought it was worth buying.' Yuki said. 'I prefer Cure3, don't you?'

'Oh, yeah, that's one of the best. But can I tell you a secret?' They leaned towards each other, deep in their materia conference.

'I found the Ultima materia!' Yuffie whispered, her voice strangled by excitement.

Yuki gasped in delight and whispered 'Guess what? I found the Full Cure materia!'

Tifa's loud and rather obvious clearing of her throat drew them slowly out of their discussion, until they stood before her like, two schoolgirls caught talking in class.

'I believe Yuki was just leaving,' she said, loftily.

'Why?' Yuffie asked. Then Yuki realised Denzel was standing in the middle of the room.

'Denzel! I was wondering where you were!' Yuki couldn't help smiling- Yuffie's excitement was infectious.

The boy looked up at her, his serious face lighting up at her smile. 'Yuffie found me and brought me back here.' He explained.

'Wait—'Yuffie began.

'She found you? But it's so late!' Yuki said, shocked. Part of her was wondering how she could talk so openly with him.

'Yeah, I fell asleep in the graveyard,' he admitted.

'Wait! Wait a minute! You haven't said what you were doing here!' Yuffie blurted hastily.

'Oh, sorry.' Yuki turned back, her former sorrow back in place. 'I was looking for a job, but it doesn't matter. I'll go somewhere else.'

'You wouldn't give her the job?' Denzel said in confusion, looking from Yuki to Tifa and back again.

'What? Why not?' Yuffie whined, stomping her foot childishly.

'It's ok, I don't mind,' Yuki said hastily, trying to get to the door.

'No, this is important,' Denzel said calmly. 'Why wouldn't she give you the job?'

'I don't see the problem,' Yuffie added.

Tifa looked a Denzel and Yuffie, opening her mouth to protest.

An hour later, Yuki had a guaranteed position at Seventh Heaven, working night hours.

…

Thanks for reading! Please review, no matter what you think, I'd like to hear any suggestions, thoughts, etc. Sorry, it was a little short and boring, the next chapter gets very interesting, I promise!


	4. Meeting the Nightmare

The girl could feel the pipes jammed into her body, pumping something alien into her

Disclaimer: All characters and places belong to Square-Enix, save two which are mine.

A/N: This is unedited, blah, blah, blah, hope you enjoy.

…

**Chapter 4**

**Meeting the Nightmare**

_The girl could feel the pipes jammed into her body, pumping something alien into her. She felt the strange substance spread throughout her like poison, tingling at her fingertips. No breath escaped her, though she was not dead. Faintly, her mind still worked. _

_Her thoughts were not sluggish. She knew that she had been drugged, so instead of being sluggish they became distant, like a radio with the volume turned down until the commentators buzzed incoherently. Sometimes, for a little while, they would surface and scream at her to do something, anything, to get out of this greenish hell. She preferred it when the thoughts were not there. At least then, she would feel a sense of peace. _

_Through the green waters, she could see, but her vision was distorted. Many times each day, she would watch, impassive, as the professor- Hojo- walked by her. Sometimes he would stop to examine a little computer on the side of her tank, and mutter to himself. _

'_Why isn't it working… the solution should be perfect! Why is her body rejecting the cells so fast…? Could it be because she is still a child? Yes, that is it… her dosage is too high…'_

_She no longer had any feeling left for Hojo. She had given up hoping he would release her long ago. But sometimes, the red-eyed bodyguard would walk past, the female scientist walking next to him. And once, just once, he turned and looked her in the eye. _

'_I'm sorry.' _

_Then her thoughts crashed in on her, and her mouth opened to scream for help, only to fill with water. The machine next to her shrieked with a power overload. For a minute, she remembered what it was like to be human, and jerked herself around to face her mother floating next to her, dead._

This time, Yuki forced herself awake. She did not want to remember anymore. Looking at the clock, she realised it was six pm, almost time for her to start working. She jumped out of bed, pulling on whatever clothes she could find, only stopping as her mobile rang.

'Hello?' she said innocently.

'You know who it is. Don't act so dumb.' Yuki grinned. Of course, it was Lee. She had been in Edge for two weeks now, and had not bothered to 'visit' any of the targets he had given her.

'Oh, come on Lee,' she teased. 'I got a job at a bar. You know, it's hard to keep both of my bosses happy.'

'Dammit, Yuki,' he snapped. 'Do at least one job by tomorrow evening, or it's going to somebody else and you're being handed over to the cops.'

'You're a hard taskmaster,'

'Do it, or you're gone.' He hung up.

She listened to the predictable beats of the phone for a moment, calming down. She knew Lee would not really hand her over, but there was no point in making him madder. She shrugged, putting the phone away, before locking the door and walking to the bar.

As she walked inside Seventh Heaven, she stopped in surprise. Instead of the usual crowds, Tifa was by herself, wiping the benches down.

'What's going on?' Yuki asked. Tifa glanced up, and smiled.

'You've been working here for a week without breaks, so I thought I'd close for the night,' she explained, sounding sincere. 'And, aside from Yuffie, you haven't met any of my friends yet, so I thought it was time I introduced you.'

'Yo! Tifa! We're here!' A voice called. Yuki turned and saw a muscular black man banging on the door. Her eyes travelled down his arm to rest on the amazing gun that was his hand. A wave of admiration flew over her.

After a puzzled glance at the frozen Yuki, Tifa walked to the door and pulled it open.

'Barret, this is Yuki.' She said. For a moment more, Yuki was unable to move. Then she relaxed, and smiled.

'Sorry, I was looking at that amazing arm of yours,' she said. Barret laughed and held it up so it caught the light and gleamed an expensive silver.

'Pretty, ain't it.'

Then Yuffie darted inside. A few minutes of pandemonium occurred, until she was restrained enough to begin talking properly.

'Let me introduce the others!' she demanded. 'OK, this is Cloud…'

Yuki looked back at the door, where a spiky-haired man was calmly coming in. He looked back at her, and she noted, from somewhere very far away, that his eyes were even bluer than Denzel's was. A strange feeling bloomed weakly inside her, a pain that started to grow. She began to say hello, in a strangled voice- and stopped.

Behind Cloud, somebody else was coming in. His face was shrouded in a cape, but she would never forget those eerie red eyes.

In an instant, she had flown from the middle of the room, past Cloud's surprised face, to grab the man she had known as Vincent and slam him against the wall of the bar. One hand ripped the cape off his face, and she stared, recognising him so well. Suddenly, she found her voice.

'You bastard!' she screamed, slamming a fist into his face while her other hand held him against the wall by his neck. She could feel people tugging uselessly against her clothing.

'Let her hurt me,' Vincent choked, gazing past her towards his friends. 'I deserve it. I never forgave myself for any of my sins…' He was cut off as Yuki pressed his throat tighter and tighter against the wall. She knew she could not kill him. He had apologised to her.

'You are so damn lucky…' she hissed, her voice shaking. 'If you hadn't said sorry, I would kill you. If you hadn't let me go the first time, I would kill you. If you hadn't protested against Hojo, weak as it was…' For a moment, his air supply was cut off, and then she released a little of the pressure. Her other hand travelled to his face.

'I'm going to scratch those eyes out instead.' She whispered. Vincent looked at her, straight in the eyes, and nodded.

'It's my…punishment,' he murmured.

A gloved hand encircled the wrist that was heading for Vincent's face, and she looked up in surprise. Her dark eyes met another pair: clear, blue. For a long minute, they stared. Then Cloud spoke.

'Please don't do it,' he whispered, his voice cracked in pain. 'Vincent has suffered enough.'

Shame engulfed her. For a moment, she felt horror at her life, bent on revenging her own suffering, never dreaming that others might suffer more damage then they had inflicted. She looked back at Vincent, her hand loosing.

'No.' Vincent muttered, audible only to her. 'It's my fault… Cloud doesn't know…'

Yuki shook her head. She knew that she could not hurt Vincent again. She could not forgive him either. She looked at the floor, awkward and ashamed. These people had been nice to her. Yuffie had been a friend, Tifa had given her a job. She would not apologise to Vincent but she could apologise to them.

'I—'

'It's my fault.' Vincent said. He did not say anything else, but the others seemed to understand.

'We'll get you a room, Yuki.' Tifa said understandingly. 'You need to rest.'

'But…but I—'

'It can wait until morning.'

The sun streamed in across the bed, to brush against Yuki's closed eyelids. Softly, they opened. She sat up.

'I didn't dream.' She whispered in wonder. She rose out of bed, changed into some of Tifa's old clothes laid out for her, and padded quietly downstairs.

Tifa was at the bar, but it was shut on a Sunday, so there was nobody around. 'Good, you're awake,' she said brightly. 'Want a drink? Some breakfast?'

Yuki shook her head, feeling weak, tired and small.

'Why did you help me?' she asked wearily. 'I tried to kill your friend.'

'That's what we do.' Tifa said simply. 'We help people.'

'Great, now I feel like I need a counsellor.' Yuki muttered. Tifa sighed.

'Every single one of our friends has a history they'd rather forget,' she said. 'You wouldn't have killed Vincent. I'm sure you don't want to talk about it now, but you might, later on. Besides, Yuffie and Denzel really like you. They'd be sorry if you left.' After an awkward pause, she added. 'I know it doesn't seem like it, but I like you too. I'm glad I hired you, Yuki.'

'Well, no need to get all sentimental about it.' Yuki muttered. 'As long as you don't go hugging me, or anything like that.'

Tifa laughed. 'You'd like Cid,' she said. 'We haven't introduced him to you yet, but you'll meet him soon, I'm sure. It's AVALANCHE'S birthday, so you can see him there.'

'AVALANCHE?'

'That's the group we belong to. A rebel group, dedicated to the preservation of the Lifestream.'

'I gotta go.' Yuki said suddenly.

'OK… but why?' Tifa asked, confused. Yuki had already gone.

She flew through the downtown streets of Edge, sticking close to the man she had seen walk by the bar. It seemed her target had come to her.

He turned into a back alley, and she ducked down behind a huge bin, watching. Another man came, and the two men bent their heads close together, muttering about something. Cash changed hands. Yuki waited until the other man had gone. Then, fast and silent, she touched the Ice materia embedded in Smoke's pommel and whispered a command.

Her target's blood froze in his body, and she bent over him, collecting the wad of cash he had just received with a quiet thank-you.

Her mind in turmoil, she walked ponderously back to Seventh Heaven.

_Help? Maybe they should help themselves first. I'll never forgive that bastard. _

…

Thanks for reading, hope this chapter was a little more interesting, tell me what you think.


	5. Confessions and Mistaken Identity

Yuki sat on a park bench, watching the trees sway in a breeze

Disclaimer: I don't own anybody or anything…I'm BROKE! Oh, wait, I own Yuki.

A/N: I wanted to make Cloud a little more open than he was in A.C., because in the end he seemed to be more relaxed. So yeah, that was on purpose.

**Chapter 5**

**Confessions and Mistaken Identities**

Yuki sat on a park bench, watching the trees sway in a breeze. Denzel sat next to her, swinging his legs and looking around. He did not seem to be bored, so they sat together, silent.

Yuki liked this silence. She had known about many different kinds of silence- the tense silence before a kill, the heart-hammering, sickening silence of hiding, and the sad silence of aloneness. This silence was something new, something different, the silence of two people who are so comfortable in each others' company that there is not really a need for words. They would talk, if they chose to, but not out of awkwardness or politeness. This was the silence of understanding.

They stayed that way for a while, watching the midday sun creep slowly down the sky. In the afternoon, the reverie was interrupted by other children, playing happily in the park. Two, a girl with a moogle in her hand, and a boy with soft blond hair, ran up to Denzel, gasping with exertion as they ran.

'Come play with us, Denzel!' the boy called as they ran up.

'Marlene's here too! She just got back!' the girl said excitedly. Neither one of them even saw the shadow of a woman that sat next to their friend.

Denzel did not run off. Instead, he hopped down from the bench and looked at the woman, lost in her thoughts.

'Is it okay if I go?' he asked quietly. Startled, Yuki looked at him.

'Of course you can go. You know you don't have to ask permission.' She said.

'No, I mean, will you be okay?' he asked.

'Don't worry about me, Denzel.'

He ran off with his friends, and she watched him for a while. It had never occurred to her that he might think she needed him. Maybe he knew she was broken. Was it so obvious?

She waited until the sky darkened, and then he ran back to her again.

'Come on, let's go,' he said, tugging at her arm. Obediently, she rose and together they walked, back towards the bar.

'You haven't met Marlene,' he said as they entered. 'Normally, she lives here, but Barrett took her on a holiday. She's back now, though.' He pointed at a girl who stood, with violet eyes and a soft, childish face, looking back at them.

'Nice to meet you,' she said, smiling at Yuki politely.

'Hi,' Yuki replied weakly, her voice sounding wooden. It was hard to meet new kids. Marlene seemed more carefree too, so automatically Yuki found herself clamming up. She could hear Marlene whispering to Denzel as they climbed the stairs.

'She's scary…'

'No, she's not. Anyway, heaps of people would say that Barret's scary.'

'He's not scary! He's nice!'…

Yuki sighed, and went towards the bar. Tifa was out, the bar usually closed in the afternoons. It was about 4.00; the bar would re-open at 5.30. That was Yuki's shift.

She grabbed a bottle of mineral water from the fridge, and started as the green glass reflected a person, seated at the table. She whirled around to confront them… and stopped.

Cloud sat at one of the tables, looking politely out the window. As she turned, he glanced at her involuntarily. Suddenly, they could not pretend the other one was not in the room.

'Hi…Cloud, wasn't it?' she said, flicking the lid off the water. 'Can I get you anything?'

'No, it's okay. I just came to talk to Tifa.'

'But, Tifa doesn't do the evening shift. She'll probably be out for a while.' He stared down at the table, tracing a pattern in the wood with a finger.

'That's fine. I'll wait.'

Yuki drank a little mineral water, wondering what she should do. Would it be rude if she went upstairs? No, she ought to confront him. She couldn't avoid him her entire life.

She strode to the table he was at, and sat down opposite him. He watched her but said nothing, a mildly angry expression glazing over his face.

'You remind me of someone,' she said, choosing a relatively safe topic. 'Your eyes. I've seen them before. I just can't remember where.' He said nothing. If anything, he looked even angrier then before.

Yuki knew that topic was no good, so she plunged into the next one.

'Look, I know we got off to a bad start. But you don't know what Vincent did. Him and Hojo, that is.'

Cloud sat up. His anger had turned sullen, but at least he wanted to listen. 'Why don't you tell me about it,' he suggested. Yuki took a deep breath, then released it and shook her head.

'I've never told anybody before. It's not exactly easy to talk about.' Even as she said the words, she knew that if he gave her the chance again, she would tell him. There was just something about the way he looked at her… She knew she had seen those eyes before. It made her feel as though there was some kind of debt to repay.

His face softened. She could see he was visibly trying to act nicer, controlling his anger.

'I never wanted to talk to anybody either,' he said. 'It's only lately that I've found I can.'

'Vincent should really be the one to tell you.'

'I'd prefer to hear it from you.'

That comment made her look at him, frowning. He seemed surprised at himself too, but he remained stubbornly silent. Yuki took another deep breath, trying to empty her emotions. Then, finally, she spoke, her sentences painfully short.

'He helped Hojo to lock me up. I was ten, at the time. He never helped, never cared, even when I saw my parent's faces. He grabbed hold of me. He let Hojo drive the needle in.'

Her voice wavered. She concentrated on breathing properly. She had never dared to say it aloud. 'I shouldn't have told you. It was up to Vincent. I'm sorry.'

'Don't apologise. You had to tell somebody.'

They sat in silence for a while, the atmosphere considerably loosened.

'You should forgive him, though.' Cloud did not look at her- the floor seemed more interesting. 'You don't know what he's been through.'

'I know enough,' Yuki muttered through gritted teeth. Luckily, Cloud did not hear.

Yuki jumped as her phone rang, flipping it open.

'Lee. What's the matter?'

'You are a bloody idiot.' Lee's voice sounded strained.

'Why? What's wrong? I…found…the guy,' she said, aware of Cloud's listening presence near her. She remembered the man, lying on the ground while his blood froze him to death- the target Lee had wanted her to kill. She'd stolen good money from that, too.

'It wasn't the target. It was his brother.'

'Shit.'

'Get rid of the real target, and do it now, before he has a chance to crank security up any tighter. He's already hired ten more bodyguards!'

'Alright, I got it. Bye.'

Moodily, she jumped up from the chair, nodded to Cloud, and left. He waited five minutes, and then left as he heard Denzel coming down the stairs. For some reason, he did not feel like talking to Tifa anymore.

…

Thanks, hope you liked it, even though it was a little short this time, please review!


	6. Faelo

Yuki's boots pounded the street, Smoke swinging dangerously from its worn strap on her hip

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Square-enix, except for Yuki, who is mine, and Faelo (pronounced Fay-low), who is my friend's.

A/N: OK, I owe KiRiSable a chapter or two or three, so this chapter is dedicated to her, and you should all read her fanfic, because it's really good . Not just because Yuki's in it XD.

…

**Chapter 6:**

**Faelo**

Yuki's boots pounded the street, Smoke swinging dangerously from its worn strap on her hip. She knew she was tired, but she had to get rid of that damn Shinra bastard before he managed to beef up security any tighter.

People stared at her as she continued to run at top speed, covering full kilometres at a sprint. For once, Hojo had actually helped her, his experiments giving her a body like a motor. As long as the adrenaline kept pumping, she could keep going, no matter how tired she became.

She entered the upper section of Edge, feeling her anxiety grow as she saw the cops that lingered at every street corner, alert for pickpockets, cutpurses and rebels. She wished they had not heard of Lee, but her exploits had pretty much been dragged all over the news, and if they saw her, they would arrest her. Or try to, at least.

Ducking in and out of the shadows, she stopped before a place that was more mansion than house, its extravagant design and huge exterior making her lip curl in derision. The promised guards patrolled the outer garden, with a police squad nearby, joking and playing cards.

She had thought it was going to be harder. Gently, she brushed her fingers against her hip, activating the Scan Materia that nestled in her pocket. The resulting green glow was faint, and a quick glance at the mansion proved that there were no magical defences. Well, that was ridiculous. She had killed this man's brother with magic- how the hell could he have forgotten about that?

Well, if he wanted to make her job easier for her, she would not complain. Abandoning her attempts at blending in, she placed her hand on her wrist, smiling as she felt its promising warmth. A Fire3 Materia. The guards began to scream and run as the fire flared up just before their faces.

Then she felt something, a tug on her magic. It hooked her in like a fish, and she felt herself being reeled towards a point in the mansion, feeling her body disintegrate and then reappear, flickering dangerously, in a room that must have been her target's office, with the man she wanted to kill sitting at his desk, smiling smugly.

'Enemy Skill,' he said, obviously pleased with himself. 'They've discovered a new one called Bring Near, did you know that? It's SO convenient for hooking little annoying magic users.'

Stupid, stupid, idiot, she cursed, letting the despair of her foolishness overwhelm her until she boiled with anger. Of course, he wanted you to use magic. Why would he let you otherwise?

The man kept grinning, even though she was sizing him up, drawing Smoke, and obviously going to kill him. He looked to his left, making a gesturing motion.

'Faelo,' he purred. 'Why don't you come here, and maybe if you kill this little bitch, Rufus might just give you that ear transplant.'

'You know he'll never give me that damn transplant' a voice muttered. It came from the figure that had walked out from among the shadowed side of the room, wearing, oddly enough, a pair of good-quality earphones, her brown hair brushed back into a high ponytail, her green eyes gazing around the room with a wistful look to them. She turned to face Yuki, a little sad, but now sharply focused.

'Just do it, Faelo...' the man sighed, obviously used to this person's antics.

'Oh, fine. Sorry about this.' Businesslike, Faelo levelled a four-barrelled handgun, and before she knew it, Yuki felt pain sprouting at her side. She looked down in shock to see that the bullet had pierced deeply into her abdomen.

'Hey, that's not very nice,' she snapped, keeping a hold of her temper. 'That's just plain dirty. At least give your opponent a damn heads-up.' The part of her that was not feeling light-headed with tiredness or pain blessed Hojo a hundred times over for the experiments that had given her some strange endurance. Wounded, she could still fight this woman.

She faced her opponent, who by now was consumed by the fight; bloodlust blooming on her face like it belonged there. Yuki waited, patiently, for her to start growing fangs.

'You didn't give my brother a heads-up!' whined the Shinra executive, tucked safely behind his desk.

'Shinra dogs don't count!' Yuki yelled, trying to be heard over Faelo's almost inhuman cry of 'Shut up!'

Faelo pointed her gun again at Yuki, but this time she was ready. Smoke was drawn, and the bullet sang harmlessly off the tough steel of her sword. Faelo did not say a word, firing again and again, and Yuki was forced to dodge, deflecting the extra bullets with Smoke.

Only one opening came- Faelo ran out of bullets. As she paused to re-load, Yuki ran in with lightning speed born out of urgency. Smoke bit into Faelo's gun arm, and Yuki dodged back away as Faelo shot back- this time with the left hand. She swore, tossing the gun on the ground and ignoring the extra shot it fired, before pulling out something bigger, better, and much, much nastier.

'You're going to kill us all!' The Shinra dog howled as Faelo fired, cackling. Yuki grabbed an Ice materia, encasing herself in a shield of ice just as the bullet hit the wall and exploded. The ice melted quickly, but at least she was still in one piece, which was more than could be said for her target, who could probably be found in several different places.

Yuki walked over to where Faelo crouched, her earphones blown off with the blast. Faelo's hands where clamped over her ears- or at least, where her ears should have been. There were, instead, two neat holes, magnifying every noise hundreds of times until Faelo was almost crying in pain.

'Don't walk so loud,' she begged. Feeling sorry, Yuki spotted the earphones, miraculously in one piece, and gave them to her. Faelo adjusted them and straightened, the bloodlust gone from her eyes. Instantly the two assumed a position of wary respect. Both recognised they were in the same boat as each other, and they might as well get out of it together.

'How the hell did you survive that?' Yuki asked. Her voice was tinged with awe. Faelo shrugged. It seemed that now her employer was dead, she could talk to Yuki normally. 'Shinra, you know. I don't really want to get into it right now. I know this might be a bad time, but… I'm looking for a guy called Vincent Valentine. Have you, by any chance, seen him?'

'What, that bastard?' Yuki raised her eyebrows, the both of them standing quite calmly in the wreckage of the once-glorious mansion. 'Hmm, yeah, I've seen him. Pity I couldn't whack that female scientist he was with, too. What a pathetic woman.'

'You mean Lucrecia? Faelo looked shocked. 'How old are you? Lucrecia's long gone.'

'You knew her?'

'God no, Vincent just told me about her- but we better get out of here,' Faelo added as the sound of yelling reached Yuki's ears. 'I don't think they're here to congratulate us.'

'Right,' Yuki muttered. She leaned down and picked up a yellow materia that glowed- the Enemy Skill materia. 'Didn't your boss say we could use this, somehow?' She tucked it into her pocket, before turning to face the force of guards and police officers running towards them. 'Only twenty. Not too many.'

Faelo nodded, a slow grin spreading across her face. She loaded her deadly gun, and fired into the crowd. They ran as it exploded, weaving deftly through the press of bodies, until they had ran all the way back to Seventh Heaven.

Yuki turned to Faelo, a little surprised that she had followed. She found the same surprised look on Faelo's face.

'Why did you follow me?' they both asked together. Faelo grinned.

'I knew Vincent sometimes came here,' she explained. 'You?'

'I…live here, I guess. Well, I work the night shift at the bar, anyway. I'm a bit of a drifter.'

'It's to be expected, really, in our line of work.' Faelo grinned again, and Yuki found herself grinning slowly in response. They pushed open the door of Seventh Heaven and walked in.

Tifa stood at the bar, with Barret and Cloud sitting on stools in front of her. Barret was gulping his beer, and when he saw Faelo, he doubled over; bursting out the huge mouthful, he had just taken.

'Barret!' Tifa glared at him, pointing an accusatory finger at the spreading beer stain on the counter and the odd droplets in her hair. Yuki thought she saw a smile flicker across Cloud's face before he stared at Faelo, incredulous.

Barret pointed at Faelo, still gagging.

'You…' Tifa turned towards the door, and gasped at Faelo.

'What's wrong?' Yuki asked, turning towards her.

'I really just came here to talk to Vincent,' Faelo said, a pleading tone in her voice. 'I left because he wanted me to.'

'I'm here,' a husky voice murmured from the doorway. Faelo spun around on her heels to glare at Vincent as Yuki did, only probably for very different reasons.

'You drive me crazy!' she snapped. 'You call me up, outta the blue, tell me to come here, and then a month later you tell me to forget all about it? I'm here now, and you brought me here, so you might as well just come out and say it!'

She stopped only because she was short of breath, but that was enough time for Vincent to have vanished.

'Where did he go?' Yuki asked pleased that Vincent was gone but confused as to how he did it. She wished Vincent could not be around- that way, she might be able to stop thinking about Cloud's voice in her head.

_You should forgive him. You don't know what he's been through._

Sometimes the words were twisted around in her head.

_I know what you've been through. I forgive you. _

Of course, Cloud had not said that. But she wished he had. She had never had anybody to forgive her before.

'Oh, I know where he's gone,' Faelo muttered. 'You're coming with me,' she added, grabbing Yuki's hand and towing her out of the door. 'I tend to embarrass myself when I'm alone with him.'

They walked for a little while in the open air, getting just outside Edge. Greenery began to make its appearance, growing gently on the slopes of hills. Faelo chose one of these with great expertise and walked up it with a posture that seemed like she was walking her death march- tall, proud, and a little defeated. Yuki followed, feeling curious.

Among the innocent flowers and underneath the bright sun, a cave stood. It looked out of place for a cave- a patch of darkness and death among life and happiness. Yuki walked in, hearing the tap of her boots on the stony floor. Faelo was in front of her, still marching determinedly forward.

They entered a chamber, and found themselves surrounded in a beautiful light that gleamed out from many mako crystals embedded into the floor. One of them bounced off a splash of crimson- Vincent, his back to them, sat on the floor, watching the biggest mako crystal of all.

Yuki's eyes followed his gaze. Bile rose in her throat as she saw a woman, trapped inside the crystal, her hands clasped together as though in prayer.

'The scientist,' she heard herself say. 'That's her.'

Vincent rose, gazing first at Faelo and then flicking his glance over to Yuki.

'That's her,' he agreed. Yuki did not know what to say.

'She's beautiful up close,' she eventually choked out. 'She did this to herself, didn't she…?' Yuki could tell, from the peaceful, accepting posture, that Lucrecia had indeed chosen this fate.

'Yes,' Vincent whispered. His eyes were back on Faelo, watching carefully. 'But I don't love her anymore. I've moved on.'

Faelo said nothing, but her lips curved up in a wry smile.

'You bugger,' she said, her voice full of humour. 'You're just lucky I didn't move on.'

'I know,' Vincent said. 'I'm sorry.'

That was the instant when Yuki found she was able to forgive him. He was a better person than she had believed, and she had assumed his life had been easy. She smiled to herself, leaving the cave. Perhaps she should allow Faelo to embarrass herself, this time.

She entered the bar quietly, clicking the door shut behind her. She turned, to see Cloud sitting once again on a chair in the middle of the bar, looking out the window. As she approached, he looked at her.

'I forgave him,' she said instantly. Cloud gave her a small smile, and nodded.

'So…will you forgive me?' she asked, her voice becoming small.

'Forgive you for what?'

'Just…for being me. I judge people too fast and I hurt people on command-'

She stopped, feeling stupid. His eyes made her feel small, and she suddenly wondered why she was blurting out words to somebody who she didn't even know very well.

He seemed to understand.

'It's ok. I forgive you.' He said. 'But will you forgive me?'

'What?' she was startled.

'I never had anybody to forgive me, either.'

A little while later, Yuki wiped down the benches with Tifa, getting ready for the night shift. Tifa talked quite a lot, casting a warm air of friendliness around the bar. Yuki only half-listened, as always.

'What are you going to wear?' Tifa's question broke into her reverie.

'What?'

'To the party! Remember, I told you it was AVALANCHE's party?'

'When's that again?'

'The day after tomorrow! Don't tell me you forgot! Oh no, we have to get you something to wear!'

Yuki sighed. It was going to be a long week.


	7. Blackout

NOTE TO SELF:

Disclaimer: I own Yuki, friend owns Faelo (Fay-low), Square-Enix owns everything else. And boy, I pay them a hell of a lot for it.

A/N: This is completely unedited, and when I say that I mean I haven't even re-read this chapter. So please forgive any grammatical and spelling errors (My English is the one from England therefore mummom etc.)

**Chapter 7:**

**Blackout**

_The girl was nearing the end of her days in that green prison, although she did not know it. The only change she perceived was that the female scientist and the red-eyed bodyguard were long gone, and that Hojo was becoming more and more anxious, fiddling with the buttons on her tank frequently. _

_Deprived even of a catatonic state, she began to make the effort to think, and this was what troubled the scientist. She became aware that the temperature of the liquid was similar to that of a hot bath, that mostly she could smell burning rubber, that if she concentrated very hard, she could see herself staring back through the glass. If she managed to stick her tongue out she could taste a silky, creamy flavour, gone slightly wrong in an imperceptible way. She could hear the scientist speak, too._

'_No… why is she reacting so violently?! I must suppress the cells within her…yes…she cannot be allowed to continue in this way…'_

_Her eyes had always been green, like her mother's. When she had first been imprisoned and injected, they had glowed a bright blue, with green around the edges, and had stared back at her, a stranger's eyes. Now, as the scientist muttered, pressing the life-changing buttons, she saw them change again, looking at her reflection in the glass._

_These eyes did not glow back. They absorbed everything- pits of terror. These eyes were darker than midnight, because they were simple holes, gazing back at her. _

_Her feeling of awareness, however, did not vanish with the eyes as the professor had planned. It grew until she was able to burst out of her glass cage, welcoming back the ability to grow out of her child's body, stuck at ten years old. _

_She would have been. But the arrival of the new eyes came with something else- a dark, spreading stain all over her back, folding over her shoulder. It hurt like a bruise at first, and then came something else, an electricity burning, until she was screwed up inside her tank with pain, her blue-black blood seeping into the water…_

A gentle droplet of rain tapped on Yuki's eyelids, and she opened them. The water, mixed with the shrill ringtone of her mobile lying nearby, had woken her. Instantly, her hand went to the ever-constant bruise on her back. It was protesting again, sparking like an electric wire while she gave a strangled gasp of pain at the sky. For a while, she remained motionless. Then, when she was certain the bruise would not flare up again, she turned her head stiffly to examine her surroundings.

She had fallen asleep in the graveyard- that would explain the dream. Lately, they had vanished, every time she slept in one of Seventh Heaven's rooms. It was beginning to rain, trickles of water running down her father's grave. She used it to support her as she got to her feet, picking up her phone as it rang for the third time.

'Hello?'

'Uh, Yuki, it's Tifa. Where are you?'

'Oh, right. We were meant to be buying a dress or something today, weren't we?'

'Yes!! And you didn't turn up for your shift either!'

Yuki shrugged. To be honest, the customers were probably better off without her, throwing plates like Frisbees onto their tables, not caring where the actual food landed as long as she did not have to get up and do any work herself. She was tired by the end of the day.

'I guess it doesn't matter,' Tifa sighed, echoing Yuki's thoughts.

'Sorry,' Yuki mumbled.

'That's alright. You'll try to make a bit more effort, won't you? Please?'

'Sure, Tifa.'

'That's good. But anyway, that's not important! What's important is that you have something to wear by tomorrow!'

'Tifa, I'm fine with jeans. I live in jeans. Really.' Well, that excluded the combat pants she often wore, but Tifa got the point.

'Uh-uh, you aren't getting away with it that easily! I've invited Yuffie.'

'Tifa…now's not a good time.' Yuki winced as her back gave her another little stab of pain, a reminder that she probably needed a hot bath and a sleep in a real bed. One that would not give her nightmares.

'You're at the graveyard, aren't you? I'll pick you up on our way there.'

'But Tifa—'

Hearing the dial tone, Yuki groaned and stuffed her phone back into her pocket, grabbing the huge, many-pocketed coat she had brought as the rain really started to fall.

She could smell the petrol burning as Tifa pulled up in a car. If Yuki had been asked to describe it, she would have said:

'Black. Medium-sized.'

She jumped into the back seat, shoving Yuffie into the next seat along. After their normal greetings, Tifa began to drive again, until she noticed Yuki's blue face.

'What's wrong?'

'Nnn-nothing. I don't like the cold.' Some understatement. Yuki had been stuck in a tank that was permanently at boiling point- she was used to being cooked. God knew how Hojo had stopped that from happening.

'OK,' Tifa said doubtfully, turning her eyes to the road once more. Yuffie giggled at some unknown hilarity, and the rest of the trip was spent listening to her easy chatter.

Yuki walked into a brand-new department stall, revelling in the warmth of the air conditioner. Tifa walked slightly ahead, her pace quick. Yuffie walked beside Yuki. She turned her head and winked.

'Wanna have some fun?' Yuffie asked in a conspiratorial voice.

'How… Oh.' Yuffie was indicating some people in the department that dripped with wealth. Yuki looked around. It seemed that every person in the place had cash to burn. She glanced casually at Yuffie, and tilted her head, very slightly, to indicate concession. It had been too long since her old pickpocket days.

Tifa looked back at them.

'Come on,' she called, so innocent and noble. Putting on their most naïve masks, Yuki and Yuffie smiled and nodded at her. Then when her back was turned, the fun started.

Yuki's first target was a woman who wore diamonds on every finger. She decided to go with a classic, sashaying up to the woman and "accidentally" bumping into her.

'Watch where you're going!' the woman snapped. Her eyes travelled Yuki's worn and ragged clothes from top to bottom- obviously, Yuki was a good-for-nothing.

'I'm so sorry,' Yuki replied softly. Her fingers slid deftly into the woman's slim, open handbag as she gave a small bow, snagging the purse and pulling away. The woman turned back to her friends with a little sigh and a toss of her permed, coloured blond hair.

Yuffie was faster, less polite and more gung-ho, deftly hooking purses left-right and centre. Yuki grabbed her arm as she went to pickpocket a strict-looking man in his late fifties.

'Not him,' she muttered 'He's earned his money. And he's not showing off, and he's not from Shinra, believe me. Besides, he's too perceptive. You'll get caught.'

Yuffie looked at the man, who was indeed glaring at her, and sighed, letting her hand drop.

'The problem is, I'm too good,' she said sadly. 'It's all too easy now.'

'No wonder. You can pickpocket anybody you want, and they don't even have to be distracted. You've got the lightest fingers I've ever seen.'

For a while they continued, while Tifa was desperately trying to find the "dresses" section. Yuki managed to pickpocket another three people, checking first that they wouldn't miss the money. Yuffie did not count how many she had taken, and they lost count of how many purses she managed to pull out of Yuki's many-pocketed coat.

'Yuffie, this is too much,' Yuki whispered furiously as she felt the weight of yet another purse slide into her pocket. 'Come on, we're going to the toilets,'

With Tifa's consent, they ran towards the nearest toilets, locking themselves in a cubicle. Desperate not to be caught red-handed, Yuki started to shove the many purses into Yuffie's hands, while Yuffie pulled the money out and tossed the empty shell into the nearby bin.

'Yuffie, we didn't need this much,' Yuki snapped, her nerves fraying. Her ears were strained from trying to hear anybody else's footsteps.

'I know,' Yuffie breathed. 'I can't seem to stop, once I get going.'

'Well, no more, ok? You probably didn't even check those people out to see if they had enough…'

She held up one ragged purse, the inside of which held a pitiful amount of money. 'You really think this is the kind of person we steal from? Stealing from the poor just turns them into thieves, and then we have competition.'

Yuffie hung her energetic head, tracing circles in the floor with a pointed shoe.

'I'm sorry. In Wutai, it's so acceptable. I'm still getting used to it.'

Yuki softened a bit, realising that her friend had got the message. 'It's ok. I mean, its fine for now, but think about it next time.'

'I didn't steal any materia.'

'ok.'

'It's for you, anyway Yuki. I wanted you to have a nice dress.'

'Alright.'

'So, how much did we get, exactly?'

'Umm…'

'Yuffie? Are you in here?' Tifa's voice floated out from around the doorway, and they heard the soft tread of her shoes as she came around the corner into the bathroom. 'Yuk-'

'WOW!'

Tifa paused, hesitant.

'Um, was that you, Yuffie?' she asked softly

'I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! HOW MUCH MONEY DO THESE RICH GUYS CARRY AROUND WITH THEM ANYWAYS?!'

'Shut up Yuffie, someone might hear you,' another voice shushed.

Tifa turned to the nearest cubicle and pushed the door open. It swung freely, obviously unlocked.

Yuki and Yuffie stood, heads bowed, staring in awe and wonder at the huge amount of gil stuffed into their hands.

'Well,' Tifa said weakly 'I guess we can afford the upmarket shops, then.'

It took an hour of bickering and another hour of lunch before Yuki's dreaded dressing time came. Faelo, after finding excuse after excuse for her absence, finally showed up as they sat down to lunch, chatting easily with everyone. Tifa's anger towards their thievery had cooled somewhat, and they entered a promising-looking dress shop with the typically good-looking assistant, and crowds of other women. Faelo made a disgusted face at Yuki, and she smiled. Well, somebody was on her side.

'What's your favourite colour, Yuki?' Tifa asked, happier than Yuki believed was possible being in a dress shop.

'Black.'

'That's not a colour!' Yuffie objected. 'There are some really nice colours out there, like blue and red and green and…'

'It's fine, isn't it?' Faelo asked impatiently, looking as uncomfortable as Yuki felt.

'What about length?'

'Something long. Or, better yet, a skirt. Actually, let's go, right now, and grab some skirts, I think that's a much better idea…'

It was not an easy selection- although Yuki tried hard to make it as easy as possible. She agreed to each and every dress that did not expose her back, but unfortunately these were limited in variety and the only passable item was a black, uncomfortably strapless, straight affair. Well, at least it was nice and simple.

'Aw, what about this?' Yuffie asked, holding up a vivid red dress that had a looping design on the back.

'Oh, that would look so good on you, Yuki!' Tifa said happily, holding it up to the light.

'No.' Yuki could feel her heart beginning to hammer, and her bruise beginning to play up. Why was it so bad, today of all days?

'Why not? It's nice and red and…' Yuffie prattled.

'You can get the black one if you want, but just try this one on once. For me?'

'She doesn't have to try it on if she doesn't want to…' Faelo trailed off, sensing defeat before the battle had even began. Tifa asked again and again, Yuki squirming as she denied every plea. She could feel her stress building, her back stinging.

'Leave it, OK?' she snapped. But then, Tifa and Yuffie's hurt faces loomed out at her, Faelo raised her eyebrows, and Yuki sighed, snatching the dress out of Tifa's hands. With luck, they would think she had a fall, and bruised herself.

She came out, feeling her stress push her to the limits. As she pulled the dress over her head, she realised the bruise was about to bleed, and ran out of the changing room.

'It's on, you've all seen it, I'm getting changed now,' she gasped, feeling faint. As she spun around on her heel, she heard the others gasp with astonishment at her obvious mutation, with more shock than she would have believed.

The room spun, and Yuki gave a small moan, before rolling to the floor, about to faint. She could hear Yuffie's voice, crying out in shock.

'Geostigma! She's got Geostigma!'

'Why aren't her eyes blue?'

She gazed up at them, seeing three faces peering back at her in distress. She could feel her blood seeping through the hard floor of the shop, the assistant fluttering around them, a multitude of other faces peering down at her.

'It seems like I've attracted a crowd,' she said, giggling to herself. The words came out as a mumble and she could have sworn the room was expanding.

'Cloud. I'll get Cloud. He'll know what to do.' That was from Tifa, already dialling a number on her phone. It was the last thing Yuki remembered before darkness invaded, and only blackness existed.

The next thing Yuki felt was steel underneath her and a gentle, wavelike motion as though she were lying on the deck of a boat. The only things that shattered this illusion was the warm, soothing breath of another human, just above her, and a leather-padded surface that she leaned on. It was settled, then. Somebody was carrying her, the steel being a pair of incredibly strong arms, the padded surface holding a small beat that she knew was a heart.

Instantly uncomfortable, and more than a little embarrassed, she jerked away instinctively from the warmth, feeling herself land on the hard gravel and the only warmth she could now feel was that of the blood that ran from a freshly grazed knee. She tried to open her eyes, struggling against the utter pain that kept them closed, and heard a sigh above her.

'Cloud, why didn't you catch her?' asked Tifa, owner of the sigh. Yuki could imagine the scene, even if she could not see it – Cloud, his head turned slightly away from her, equally embarrassed, and wishing he were anywhere but there.

She heard the rustle of his clothing as he kneeled down, gently attempting to pick her up again. She tried to lash out at him, knowing it was hopeless, knowing it was stupid. Her hand could barely twitch.

'Let me carry you,' Cloud murmured, and his voice was soft, lowered. She felt no pain as he lifted her up, trying to fall back asleep so that she could not protest or feel anything.

She opened her eyes as he seated her, trying to fight against the bleariness that invaded her mind as well as her senses. She could tell that she was sitting in a ruined church, beautiful flowers blooming out in a shaft of sunlight. She smiled, feeling oddly peaceful within that once-holy place, her pain temporarily banished.

Cloud walked around to face her, a bowl of water in his hands.

'I-I'm sorry,' he began, blushing, 'but I'm going to have to ask you to show me your back. Yuffie said that's where the Geostigma was.' Unable to quench the fog in her mind, Yuki obeyed, turning her back to him.

She realised that she was still wearing the hated red dress, and that her strange blood had disintegrated the back anyway. She felt the cooling water pour down her back and started as she saw the image of a beautiful woman, dressed in pink with her hair tied back, her lips curving up in a gracious smile.

_So, we've finally met. _

The voice that spoke was light and happy, and Yuki felt cured in its presence. Later on, she would convince herself that it was all a hallucination, brought on by her blackout and the strange water, which was obviously drugged to heal her.

She smiled as the Geostigma on her back sparkled with the energy of the Lifestream, tickling her.

Faelo walked into the church, giving a secret smile to herself as she faced Yuki and the careful Cloud.

'Come on, you, you're crashing at my house,' she declared, stabbing a thumb towards the door. Yuki nodded, holding her dress up as she walked towards the church doors. She knew the odd peace she was feeling would not last, and she wanted to be well away from Cloud by the time it faded.

Faelo grinned wolfishly at Cloud, before turning and following Yuki. At the door, Yuki paused. Embarrassing or no, she could at least be polite.

'Cloud?' She turned towards the entrance. He did not gaze out the window, as she was accustomed to. Instead, he looked straight at her, somehow more confident and yet more distant at the same time.

'Yeah?'

'Thank you.'

She would never faint like that again.

…

Sorry, Cloud might be out of character, I don't actually know because he's the hardest one to write about I'm sorry for all the sap, too. I feel like a fangirl right now, something I've always tried hard not to be!

So anyway, please enjoy + review!


	8. Lee

Somebody had freed her

A/N: Sorry! I've been so late with this update, but let's just say I've had a lot on my plate, ranging from my birthday to the Olympics, to stress about school…

Anyway, I am in kinda a low mind state right now (depression), which means that this update is probably pretty crap, but hey, it's a start.

Disclaimer: No-one belongs to me except Yuki & Lee, Faelo to friend, everyone else to Square-Enix.

**Chapter 8**

**Lee**

_Somebody had freed her. That was the first thing she knew, as her eyes snapped open in the hospital ward. She could see the pitted ceiling, unobscured by greenish liquid or glass. Such harsh light, too bright, too bright... She covered her eyes with a pale green arm and screamed. It emerged out of her throat as a gurgling, animal sound. She gurgled again, feeling the rasp of her cry against her throat. Finally, her weak thrashing subsided. The darkness reached again for her with its black wings, and she surrendered to it._

_When she next awoke, her ears suffered, listening to the boom of voices no longer muffled by the bubbling tank. They were so loud that all she could hear was the boom and bellow of them, the essence, as though they were, sails filling up and then flapping with emptiness. She could not understand the words. _

_The final time, she found that her eyes and ears had adjusted to the light and sound. She stared at the ceiling for some time, amazed at the beauty of the new colour she had found. Grey was everywhere and she adored it. She was still a green creature- the liquid in her tank had dyed her hair, her skin, even the inside of her mouth. She had taken ten years of it._

_She often heard voices, but never saw anybody; although beside her bed were a jug of water and a cup. She smashed the cup by accident, as she scrabbled for the healing drink, gulping it down and then laughing hoarsely in delight when the rest of the jug poured unexpectedly onto her bed. It was cold, and pure._

_The first person she saw came into her room bearing another jug that same day. She fell in love with him instantly. _

_His black hair was cropped short, and his chin sprouted a little stubble. His eyes were as dark as her own, a pitch-black nightmare. He looked around thirty, wearing a businesslike suit that tried to hide the experienced muscle the shirt could not help outlining. He said his name was Lee. She never questioned that. _

_To her, Lee was an amazing new thing, new colours, new sounds, and new smells. She would hold onto his arm and beg him not to leave every time that he came - and his teeth would flash in a small, irritated smile. She was just a ten-year-old girl to him, not particularly interesting, but possibly useful depending on how much mako had been injected into her system- and her dark eyes said none. She held none of that electric-blue power. _

_Despite that, the blood tests she underwent showed a huge amount of power. Her eyes, it showed, had been dyed with a special pigment- she was designed to hide her power. She did not care about any of it, as long as it pleased Lee. He was happy, and he would come more often now, laughing, joking, and a break from the boring, mute doctors and nurses that normally came to see her. She found she had begun to grow again, slowly. Lee began to teach her how to fight. She would wait, heart pounding, for the moment that his fist connected with her, feeling the admirable force behind the blow, letting him hurt her so that she could touch him. _

_Her obsession was dangerous. Lee saw her devotion, manipulated it, used it, making sure that nobody else got close to her, treating her specially. She moved out of the hospital, and into a camp where Lee's followers were, plotting against Shinra. It was a place where all the new recruits trained. She was separate from them, Lee's pet, his precious one, his perfect assassin. The green glow began to fade from her skin, and now she could blend in normally, although she never spoke very much to other people. _

_At the age of twelve, her revenge against Shinra began. _

Yuki woke in Faelo's apartment. She stared up at the white wall, and thought, for a single moment, that she was still in the hospital. The phone rang, and her hand automatically flew to answer it.

'Hey, Lee.'

'Yuki, we have a problem.'

'What's up now?'

'Two more targets.' There was a hesitant pause on the other side of the phone. Yuki groaned.

'They aren't in Midgar, are they?'

'No, they are not. Please Yuki, do this for me.'

Part of her adoration stirred again, although she had buried it deep. 'Fine. But afterwards, I'm coming back to Midgar.'

'I will accept that.'

'Where are they?'

'Nibelheim. However, I would appreciate it if you could finish off your last target before you go.'

'Whatever.'

She hung up, and stared for a while back at the ceiling, thinking about Lee's voice. It was the part of him she had loved most, back then.

However, she was not the perfect assassin that he had thought she would be. She had broken down after her first killing- she had seen right through Lee. She had understood him completely for the first time. The adoration she had felt turned to hate.

'Damn you, Lee,' she muttered.

All of a sudden, an apparition floated into her bedroom and let out a noise that may have been something between a whimper and a groan.

'O-oh, Nooo…' Faelo muttered.

'What?'

'The party… it's in an hour…' She whimper/groaned again, expressing an impressive talent for animal noises. Yuki felt herself smile as she returned back to the present. That happiness was quickly replaced by a creeping dread. She would have to go to this party too.

'And Tifa's coming to get us readyyy,' Faelo made a face. 'Yuck.'

Yuki smiled in delight as she swept into the party room. Of course, this may have had something to do with the large, black cape that she had been permitted to wear, disguising the dress completely. Faelo looked equally happy beside her, having found a pair of red boots that let her kick anybody who dared to come close.

'Hi!!' This from Yuffie, who accompanied it with a cannon-ball type hug. 'I wanna introduce to Cid and Red XIII and Cait Sith and Reeve!!'

Yuki tried to nod seriously at them all, but she could not help smiling.

Red XIII was a stunning wolf-like, battle-scarred creature, his good eye glittering with human intelligence and wisdom.

Reeve was a serious businessperson, greeting her with a professional, succinct attitude.

Cait Sith seemed to be a strange, robotic creature, deferring to Reeve before he was allowed to meet her, then chatting to her non-stop.

Cid, his hair cropped short, wore a pair of pilot air goggles, and looked to be around thirty. She laughed when he knocked something and swore the air blue, an incident that she had been warned would happen.

She greeted them absentmindedly, scanning the room for the other faces: Vincent, Barrett, Cloud, Tifa, Yuffie, Denzel, Marlene, and…

'Faelo, do you know those two guys there?'

'Whaty-what?'

'That guy, with the red hair who looks as though I'm gonna bite his head off, and the one next to him, wearing sunglasses at night-time, who are they?'

'Ah. Could it be that they look that way because you are going to bite their heads off?'

'Why would I do that?'

'Well, um, the red-haired one's called Reno, and the sunglasses guy is called Rude.'

'That doesn't answer my question.'

'They are…Turks.'

Yuki paused, listening for a moment to the quiet chatter of the room. Then, slowly, she frowned.

'I don't feel anything at all.'

Tifa came up beside them, smiling. 'So, you have met everybody now.'

'Yeah, I guess.'

'Did you think it would be bigger? Everybody else- all the sub-members of AVALANCHE- are arriving about an hour later. It will get really packed then!'

Her eyes shone with excitement as Yuki cringed.

She made her way over to the large group, blending in so that she did not have to talk much. She watched Reno quizzically, trying to muster up some form of anger.

A large, strong hand gripped her arm. Tobacco smoke permeated the air around her with its distinctive scent.

'Come here for a bloody second, before you scare both the shit and the piss out of Reno.'

Obediently, Yuki followed Cid until they stood outside in the crisper air, where she was able to sit far enough away that the tobacco would not make her sneeze. Cid puffed on his dented cigarette for a while. Then he flung it on the ground as though it were a personal insult to him, stamping on its flame until it was black, and rotted.

'I hear you had one hell of a problem on yer hands,' he called to her, folding his arms and frowning.

'And who told you that?' she shot back.

'Who d'you think, the bloody man on the moon?'

She relaxed for a moment. 'Cloud told you.'

'He also mentioned that you hate all of those damn Shinra bastards, that right?'

'Yes.' She narrowed her eyes. 'Not to mention their bodyguards.'

Cid coughed a laugh.

The pad of soft paws sounded behind her. She swung to face the battle-scarred Red XIII, hiding her surprise at his quiet approach.

'You say that, but you do not hate Reno or Rude, correct?'

'No.' she whispered the word, afraid to admit it.

'Then maybe, it's about damn time you stopped getting over your ! prejudices and started !# doin' something about it!' Cid muttered, easily enough for her to hear.

Yuki sighed. Tifa had been right- she did like Cid, and his direct manner of speech. He reminded her, just a little, of a Lee who had had a rough upbringing, but who was a much better person because of it. She liked Red too, with his mysterious manner, wisdom, and deep sense of perception.

As she walked back into the party, she looked at them all, the people who she wanted to stay with, who she wanted to know better. They were standing together, laughing, and as she approached, they turned, smiling, to greet her, and enfold her into their lives again.

'Sorry, I have to make a phone call.' She excused herself politely, going back outside, listening to the birdcall and the rustle of the trees in the darkness. Her happiness turned back into numbness as she punched the number she knew so well into her mobile.

'Yuki?'

'I don't hate them anymore, Lee.'

'But-'

'I won't do it anymore.' She heard the crackle of his sigh on the other line. He knew she was serious. She knew what it meant.

'They'll be coming for you. I cannot stop them.'

'I know.'

'I will try though, Yuki.' His voice was breaking on the other line. She knew it was because his dreams for her had failed. She would no longer be there, beside him always, devoted. She had not felt that devotion for nine years, but he had always believed that it would happen again, one day.

'I believe you. But I can face them.'

'Goodbye.'

'Goodbye, Lee.'

She hung up, and wiped her face with one arm. A few tears had fallen, but no more.

The crackle of dry leaves gave away his presence, and she turned to face him. She felt his familiar gaze, now wary. Cloud spoke.

'Who's coming? I need to know everything.'

…

That's all for now, thanks for reading, sorry about the crap writing…


	9. Imprisonment

Disclaimer: I own Yuki, friend owns Faelo (Fay-low), Square-Enix owns everything else. And boy, I pay them a hell of a lot for it.

A/N: This is completely unedited, and when I say that I mean I haven't even re-read this chapter. So please forgive any grammatical and spelling errors (My English is the one from England therefore mummom etc.)

**Chapter 9:**

**Imprisonment**

All Yuki could see were the confines of her room. White walls, white ceiling, beige carpet. There was not much inside- a desk with a humming laptop plugged in, a bed, and a box that served to store clothing.

She sat, fists clenched, waiting desperately for Tifa to return with the paper she had asked for. She could feel the rage boiling inside of her, smell it burning her skin.

The infuriating voice continued 'And the search for the mass murderer and rebel known as Yuki is still ongoing. Police are scouring the streets of both Midgar and Edge as they try to uncover her past.' A picture of a scowling, burnt young woman flashed up on the screen. 'It is believed she began her killings from an early age, targeting mainly Shinra executives, but it is unknown what has caused her recent span of killings, which involved the lives of many innocent citizens, including children.' Yuki's picture was replaced with that of a charred square, where corpses littered the ground. 'If you find this dangerous killer, do not hesitate to call the police immediately. The hotline is…'

It took all of Yuki's carefully accumulated control to stop her fist ruining the laptop as she closed it. Taking deep breaths to steady her rage, she quickly massaged the bandages on her hands. A week ago, she had broken her fingers trying to get past Cloud and Barret, trying to escape outside. She hated being stuck in her room, unable to even open a window just in case somebody saw her.

_He's coming for me. Genesis… he will come for me. And I will be a sitting duck. _

Over the past few weeks she had felt him coming closer to Edge, his impossible strength like a radar to those who knew him. The police had probably been tipped off by Lee- a distraction to confine her within the city. So far, it had worked.

Yuki paced around her room angrily, almost pouncing on Tifa as she opened the door.

'Hello, Yuki.' Tifa's voice was abrupt, not in anger, but as though she had been drained of breath. 'I came as fast as possible. Here is the paper you wanted. And the paint.' She could not stop the worry flickering in her eyes. 'You… haven't broken anything?'

'No. Not yet, anyway.' Yuki tried to stop the anger spreading across her face, and failed. Thanks Tifa.' Hurriedly she grabbed the bags in Tifa's hands and slammed the door on her, quenching the small flame of guilt that flickered across her mind. She dumped the bags down and opened the tins of paint, revealing the deep crimson that swirled in their depths.

Absorbed in her painting, Yuki did not hear the soft knock on her door, nor the small creak as it opened. It was only some minutes later, when she turned for more paint, that she saw Cloud watching her sorrowfully. His eyes raked the room- the walls spattered with crimson as though it were blood, the red liquid even running down the windows and staining the carpets as though he had walked into a set for a horror movie.

The wide smile on Yuki's face broke into a mask of indifference. She felt shame rapidly replacing her excitement, and then anger at the shame. Why should she apologise? She was only decorating. After being stuck in the same room for four weeks, it was only natural to try and bring some colour into the place.

They stood facing each other for a long time, Cloud pondering while Yuki fidgeted and began to pick up the paper on the desk. His eyes flickered over to it.

'Is that origami?'

She turned. 'Yes, why?'

He seemed almost scornful. As he turned to exit the room, he tossed a quiet 'come with me,' over to where she stood.

She stilled for a moment. Did this mean they could go outside? She sprinted after him, trying to hide the huge smile spreading across her face.

The bike was impressively huge, a sleek black with silver engines jutting out the back. It was almost like an animal- some ruthless alien carnivore that dared you to ride it. Cloud walked up to it, expertly mounted it, and held a hand down to help her on. Yuki, disguised underneath the only helmet Cloud could find, took his hand and apprehensively swung a leg around it. The leather of the seat was soft.

'Hold on.' Cloud said, and disguising her apprehension she tentatively wound her arms around his waist, trying not to think about it too much.

The alien carnivore growled as Cloud started the bike, then launched into an aggressive roar as he accelerated. Yuki's tentative grip tightened considerably. Her helmet rattled, before breaking into two and flying off. She felt panic, and stared fixedly at Cloud's back.

Soon the alien had quietened into a high-quality purr as they reached a church. Yuki recognised it as the same one she had been taking to on the nightmare shopping day.

Cloud cut the engine, then sat still for a while. Eventually he murmured 'Yuki?'

'Yes, Cloud?'

'You can let go of me now.'

Yuki shook her head. 'No thanks,' she told him, her voice muffled against his shoulder 'I'll wait until my head stops spinning.'

He laughed then, a quiet sound, soft as a feather. Then, gently, he reached down and prised her hands away from his waist, keeping a hold on them to support her disorientated body from falling.

'You will feel better once you come inside the church,' he murmured, still smiling.

'Okay.' She took a deep breath.

They sat among the strange and beautiful flowers, letting the odd peace in the church steal over them. Yuki no longer cared wether she would be found by Genesis, although she knew he was hunting her like a bloodhound, determined to kill before she betrayed any secrets.

'Those children- I didn't kill them. You know that, right?'

'Of course.'

Yuki hesitated, wishing that she could ask some more questions, not wanting to pry into Cloud's privacy. She settled for a relatively safe topic.

'What are these flowers called?'

Cloud gazed at them ruminatively. 'I never knew their name. They are rare, though. I have never seen them anywhere else. They may be unique to this church.'

'Why did you take me out of the house?'

Another laugh. Yuki wondered if something amazing had happened. Twice in half an hour!

'You may have been headed for madness,' he explained. 'Tifa charged me with the important task of keeping you sane.'

Yuki rolled her eyes. 'No she didn't.'

'Well, maybe not.'

They talked for a while longer, keeping the conversation as light as possible. Then Cloud stood up.

'We better go.'

From then on, they visited the church everyday. It was a place to talk and feel normal, although they had difficulty with disguises.

After a couple of weeks, Cloud came into Yuki's room, keys jumping in his hand.

'Are you ready?' he asked, smiling at her. He looked different, she noticed. Happier.

Smiling back, she stood up, going towards the door.

'Wait,' he said suddenly, catching hold of her arm.

'Hmm?' She found herself suddenly inches from his face. From somewhere very far away, she noted that his cheeks were a little pink. So were hers. His eyes, so oddly familiar, suddenly filled her vision. She could not look away.

'Yuki,' he breathed, 'I-'

But she jerked away, almost knocking over the laptop as she stared at him, almost frightened.

'C'mon, lets go!,' Yuffie was bounding up the stairs, brushing Cloud aside as she swept into Yuki's room. 'Pack your bags, we're leaving!!'

'What?!' Yuki gasped, 'Where-?'

'We're going to Wutai!!' Yuffie yelled happily. 'Cid finally caved in! It took soo much pestering!'

'We should go pack then,' Cloud said, and left the room, followed soon by Yuffie.

Yuki moved robotically towards the cardboard box that housed her clothes, then remembered that she should ask Tifa if she could borrow a suitcase.

She did not move. She stayed in position, her face contorted. Because she had remembered exactly where she had seen Cloud's eyes before, and it would take a long time before she could wipe the mask of horror off her face.

…………………………………………….

Once again, I'm sorry if any of the characters are OOC, I am trying to make Cloud a little happier because Advent Children is over and he's no longer suffering from his crippling guilt…

Thank you for reading, please review!


	10. Overcoming Emotions

A/N: If sorry if any characters are OOC, or if I've got any grammar points wrong, please remember that this is unedited…

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters except Yuki. I do not own the airship, I do not own Wutai, I do not claim ownership to any part of the Final Fantasy world except the plot of this story. Thank you.

**Chapter 10: Overcoming Emotions**

Yuki hunched down in the engine room of Cid's beloved ship, running her hand across the warm iron. The workers, alerted to her presence, had left the room just minutes before, obeying warily Cid's command that she be left alone. Yuki closed her eyes, remembering the conversation all too well.

'_I don't understand... something's not right.' Barret turned to her with a concerned look upon his normally aggressive face. 'You know you can talk to us... I mean, I don't normally hold with any of that womanly crap, but y'know, if some guy is annoying you...'_

'_Yeah!' Cid pounded his fist into his hand enthusiastically, his face lighting up with violent anticipation. 'If someone... if any of those emo bastards are putting you through shit, you let me know!' _

_Yuki had attempted a smile, and failed. 'It's alright,' she told them miserably, 'I just want to be left alone. I'm sorry for being so selfish.' _

She had found herself her, four days later, aboard Cid's airship with the whole crowd, staying mainly where she hoped nobody would look. It had been hard to avoid them, no doubt about that. She could still see the look of hurt that played across Yuffie's face, the grim exchanges of Cid and Barret, the feigned indifference of Vincent, the worry painted on Tifa, the wise understanding of Red XII... Her eyes flew open at the thought of the seventh face, the one who she had not seen now for over two days, and the one she did not dare look at during mealtimes. 

She did not need to look at his face to know the changes he would be going through. First, she knew, he would have felt mild uncertainty at the change in her mood. As the hours dragged on he would have become more confused, and then, finally, he would have descended into the realms of hurt, where misunderstanding coupled with rejection would work together in a final, menacing attempt to crush him. She did not need to talk to him to know that he was beginning, yet again, to hate himself, to blame himself for whatever had occurred to her_._

_But it's not his fault... Is it? _

Well, no, it was not his fault that to glance into his eyes meant looking into the pain of her past; and it was not his fault that she could not cope with what she had seen. However, she was forced to admit that if she had never met him, she would not have to deal with the returning memories that haunted her, of that one night her dream of escaping Hojo's sick grasp had become reality... so, in a way, it was his fault that she remembered the horrifying day of her departure.

_No, I can't think like that_

How, then, was she supposed to think? How was she supposed to feel?

She turned, and pressed her cheek against the steaming engine, letting the puff and noise of the room drown out the buzzing thoughts that circled around her head. For a while she remained like this- then, becoming aware of another presence in the room, turned to face Red XII, his powerful legs rippling under his earthy red coat as he padded towards her.

'It seems the employees are becoming scared of you,' he remarked quietly. A slight tinge of amusement coloured his otherwise serious tone. Yuki turned towards him and sighed heavily. As though the sigh were tangible, it rippled down to the ground and buried itself silently in the floorboards.

'Hey, Red.'

'How many times have I told you to call me Nanaki?' There was slight reproach in his tone. She attempted a smile.

'If it's what you truly want.'

'No.' Nanaki's nose swung from side to side as he shook his head. 'What I truly want is the truth.'

'About what, Reddy?'

He swung his massive head up to gaze at her piercingly. It was disconcerting, she noted dimly, how such a powerful creature could hold such intelligent and gentle eyes.

'You know what I mean.' His voice was a low growl, barely audible. 'And I don't want you to tell me, either. I want you to tell who really matters. Who this horror truly concerns.'

He fell silent for a moment, and then added quietly, 'He's been shut up for days. In his room. We don't know what he's doing. Every time one of us walks in, he glances up, briefly, and we can tell that he's waiting for somebody. But when he sees it's just me, or Vincent, or one of the girls, he looks back down at the floor.'

Yuki glanced away. 'I'm sorry, Nanaki.' Her voice emerged as a whisper. 'I want to be left alone.'

Hours later, she emerged and headed towards the mess room. Normally, she avoided contact with the others as much as possible, but after days of continuing without food, she was forced to admit that even her enduring body could feel deep hunger. As she wolfed the food down, she gave a quick scan of the table, and sure enough, there was no spiky beacon of hair to alert her to his presence. Swallowing quickly, she left without acknowledging the people that sat around her.

A few minutes later, she lay in bed although it was only seven at night, staring up at the ceiling with wide eyes. Somewhere nearby, she could hear voices, and knew that he was close.

'Go away, Yuffie.' His voice was a low murmur. 'I don't want to talk to anyone.' 'Huh! Don't think that you're the only one hurt by Yuki!' Yuffie's voice, unusually scornful, cut through the walls of the cabins easily. 'Just because she's sulking doesn't mean that you have to sulk too! Honestly, I'm getting sick of the both of you! Why should everybody else have to pull around your weight just because you're too damn miserable'-

'Yuffie, go away.' Cloud's voice had risen slightly now, and it had a dangerous edge to it Yuki had not heard before. She heard the slide of the electric door, followed by a muffled sob as Yuffie departed.

Silently, she slid out of bed, got changed and walked around to the cabin next to her. She looked at it for a long time, before finally punching in the code that would make it slide open and admit her.

Cloud's back was to her, and as she entered he did not turn to face her. He gave a low, irritated noise in the back of his throat, before snarling 'Look, just go away, will you!' He spun angrily around to confront the intruder- and stopped, the anger of his face giving way to confusion, and hurt. Then a new anger; harder, colder than the previous one, invaded his features.

'I'm sorry, Cloud.' Yuki felt as though she could hear her voice emerging from somewhere far away. 'I can explain.'

He tried to glare at her. 'Explain, then.' His voice was struggling to maintain its coldness.

'That's the thing... I don't want to explain. Not right now.' She suddenly moved forward and caught his hand gently in hers. His face was inches away- she looked into his eyes without flinching.

_These are not the same eyes I remembered. _She told herself firmly._ Those eyes belonged to a different person, and he's dead, this is not him... _

'Cloud, please, don't make me tell you,' she whispered. 'I will tell you if you want, but don't ask me...'

Cloud leaned towards her. Their noses brushed together. There was an unspoken promise in the air, as though they had know this would happen since they had fist met, as though he understood completely.

'It's OK' he whispered softly. 'I don't need to know. I...forgive you.'

Their lips brushed together gently, touching only for a brief moment before they parted. She could feel the warm beat of his heart against her chest, the softness of the hand that caressed her face, and she raised both her hands to guide his quietly joyful face towards her mouth again.

Please Review and I'll post the next chapter up soon!


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